Sydney: Mining giant Rio Tinto on Wednesday reported a 33 percent jump in first-half net profit thanks to strong commodity prices, and rewarded shareholders with a record interim dividend and a further stock buy-back.The Anglo-Australian firm's net profit in the six months to June 30 was US$4.38 billion. Underlying profit, its preferred measure which excludes impairments and exchange rate losses, jumped 12 percent to US$4.42 billion.
"We have reported another strong set of results," said chief executive Jean-Sebastien Jacques.
"We will continue to invest in Tier 1 (top-quality) growth, further strengthen our portfolio and maintain a strong balance sheet in order to deliver superior returns to shareholders in the short, medium and long term."
Rio declared an interim dividend of 127 US cents, totalling US$2.2 billion, the largest half-yearly return in its history.
The world's second biggest miner also announced a further buy-back of $1.0 billion of its shares, targeted at its London stock.
Rio, like other miners, has benefited from a rebound in the price of its main commodity iron ore after a slump due to a supply glut and a slowdown in growth in the world's top commodities consumer China.
Iron ore sales were nine percent higher at 168.8 million tonnes at its Pilbara mine in Western Australia, compared to the same period in 2017, with the company forecasting shipments at the upper end of its guidance range of 330 to 340 million tonnes for all of 2018.
Copper production was significantly higher, with a 42 percent increase on the same period last year, thanks to a boost in output at Rio's Escondida mine in Chile.
"Inflationary pressures are being experienced across the industry, but we have been able to offset these through our mine-to-market productivity programme," Jacques said.
The mining giant is also swimming in cash after offloading a range of Australian coal assets in the past year as it moves toward a full exit from the industry.
Rio pledged that the US$5 billion it will reap from those asset sales, minus tax, will also be returned to shareholders in a form yet to be determined.
The sale of its remaining coal assets in Queensland state for US$3.95 billion, which it announced earlier this year, was now complete, it said.
Rio has sold its stake in the Hail Creek mine and its interest in the undeveloped Valeria project to Swiss-based commodities giant Glencore for US$1.7 billion.
The miner also offloaded its interest in the Kestrel mine to a consortium comprising private equity manager EMR Capital and PT Adaro Energy Tbk for US$2.25 billion.
"The sale of our remaining Australian coal assets delivers exceptional value to our shareholders," Jacques said.
The company agreed in February to sell a bundle of European aluminium assets to Norway's Hydro in a US$345 million deal which it expects to complete in the third quarter of this year.
Rio shares closed 0.55 percent higher at Aus$81.65 ahead of the result.